Democracy or Autocracy? - Time to Choose

 This week's Gallery begins with yet another Hurricane Ian disaster, this one as close to my heart as Snook Haven. 

Background:

Venice, Florida, is the only town for a hundred miles north or south unprotected by a barrier island, yet its waterfront survived remarkably well. Wind damage three blocks inland, however, was more intense. (See photo below.) 

Even before I moved to Venice, Florida, I was aware of the Venice Little Theater. My father ushered for the productions back when it was in a Quonset hut at the Venice Airport. (Yes, that's right - the airport forever infamous as the place where Mohammed Atta learned to fly.)

By the time I became a permanent resident of Venice, the theater had moved to the downtown auditorium abandoned by the private military academy that once flourished there. My daughter participated in several productions at VLT while in high school. Below, what the theater looked like after Ian. (The VLT website declares that rebuilding is underway and is announcing auditions for a Christmas musical. Bless them!)

Photo by Susie Reale

 

On a happier note . . .

Below, a photo I never saw when Susie first took it. Was delighted when she re-posted it from Facebook Memories this week.

Mike & Riley

 

Grace note:  Friday a.m. I just had a phone call, asking about the possibility of Riley borrowing my car for Senior Prom night. Sigh. How times flies!

Our Cassidy was in Tampa last weekend for another Central Florida Police Explorers training event - everything from take-downs to emergency medical. And shooting competition of course. Surprise, surprise - someone actually out-shot Cassidy - she ended up in 2nd place, but with a 1st for her team.

 

Below, you'll find a great photo, but not surprisingly, kits adapted from Bengal tigers are not the best bet for a household pet, no matter how cute they are.

 

Lastly, a re-posting from Facebook to usher in my rant of the day.

I titled this one, "If only. . ."

 

And yes, I'm a liberal who believes every one 

of the items in the boxes above should come to pass.

DEMOCRACY OR AUTOCRACY? TIME TO CHOOSE

 I don't have a lot of money to contribute to election campaigns. I no longer have the strength to take my views door to door in my neighborhood. But before filling out my mail-in ballot, I did take the time to research the more obscure candidates, such as those running for my county's school board or the Soil & Water Commission. I also pondered the three amendments to our State Constitution, finally choosing two yeses and a no. And then I put my ballot in the envelope, sealed and signed where indicated, and dropped it in the mailbox, satisfied that I had voted in every election since I turned twenty-one (the minimum age at that time).  

VOTING is the foundation of Democracy. Without easily accessible voting rights, Democracies wither and die, allowing the "dog-eat-dog, devil-take-the-hindmost philosophies of megalomaniac dictators to make slaves of the vast majority of the population.

And yet, even after the current Leader of this rabidly anti-democratic attitude has been shown to be liar, a cheat, duplicitous to the point of treason, there are those who cling to his muddy coat-tails - most astonishingly, a great many blue collar workers, for whom Mr. Trump cares not a snap of his fingers as long as he can pull the wool over their eyes long enough to get them to vote for him or for those espousing his to-the-right-of-Attila-the-Hun policies.

Unbelievable.

And then there are people like Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis, whose "throw-back" philosophies are far more dangerous than those of Trump the Dunce. Because DeSantis is way smarter and Yale-educated, to boot. Was it at Yale that DeSantis was indoctrinated with "elite" ideas that should have been humbled decades ago? (I say this as the daughter of someone with a father who had a Masters from Harvard, as someone who was married in one of Yale's chapels, whose husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew are all graduates of Yale. And as one who lived in the New Haven area for more than a quarter century and was among the Fellows' wives who were asked if women should be granted entry to Yale!) So yes, as much as I love Yale, I am aware of the hard-core elitism that lurks there.

Back to Florida . . .

Ron DeSantis's latest dictatorial legislation went into effect this week. Teachers can now lose their licenses if they talk about "woke" ideas in the classroom - from gender identity to race relations. (Keep in mind that banning "Critical Race Theory" is basically banning a discussion of racial history in the U.S., lest some overly sensitive white child should feel "shame.")

You've got to be kidding!  

Except Ron DeSantis is serious, just as he quoted "personal freedom" as a reason for not mandating masks during the height of the Covid epidemic or told relatives they were "free" to visit their loved ones in nursing homes, taking their germs with them. In other words, he gave his constituents the right to die and take others with them!

Believe me, when researching candidates for this fall's election, I red-flagged all those who mentioned "parental rights." If your child needed surgery, would you demand your right to tell the surgeon how to do his job?? The same applies to teachers. They, too, are professionals, most with a Masters Degree. Parents have no more right to tell teachers how to do their jobs than they have a right to tell a surgeon how to wield his knife!

On the subject of cockamamie Florida laws, I could go on and on, but I'll settle for just one more (which, admittedly, I have mentioned in a previous blog).

I was a young mother living in the New Haven area during the original fight for Roe vs. Wade. I cheered when it passed, saw the vast improvement to women's health that followed. I now mourn for all the women (and young girls) who have been plunged back into the dark ages. I do not consider myself in favor of abortion, but I AM in favor of doing what must be done to protect women and girls who need one. Roe vs. Wade was a legal milestone, a literal LIFE-SAVER for women who previously had been driven to backroom abortions or DIY with coat hangers or poisonous potions. A female's Right to Choose MUST be restored.

So . . .

Consider your options. Consider your responsibility to

uphold Democracy, to keep the wolf of Autocracy at bay.

GO TO THE POLLS or VOTE BY MAIL.

JUST BE SURE TO VOTE!

~ *~

For a link to Blair's website, click here.

 For a link to Blair's Facebook Author Page  click here.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)